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Relay silver for Hexham triathlon youngsters

HEXHAM triathletes continue to make their mark on a national level with three medals from the Triathlon England Club Relays.

Making it a successful weekend for One Life Racing at Nottingham’s National Water Sports Centre, their junior boys and girls team won silver while the ladies vet 40+ quad claimed bronze.

The success built on the medal haul of 2013, the juniors both retaining their places on the second step of the podium, while the vets finished just one spot off last year’s effort. The relays are widely regarded as one of the most exhilarating and fun events on the UK triathlon calendar with more than 2,000 athletes taking part.

The event revolves around teams of four using a tagging format where every member swims 500m, cycles 15k and then finishes with a 5k run.

The highest placed team for One Life was the junior boys team of Toby Routledge, Sean Wylie, Fergus Robinson and Alistair Maxwell, who finished in a remarkable 12th overall.

The finish was a fantastic achievement for such a young team, finishing second in the U20 category to take the silver medal they won last year.

In a tough battle with their main rivals Wrekin Tri Club Juniors, the Hexham lads finished just one minute and 11 seconds behind the eventual category winners after three-and-a-quater hours of racing. Having led out of the water, Wrekin were always in a strong position but One Life fought hard all the way and posted some of the fastest bike splits in the entire field.

In an astonishing display of time trial cycling, they made up four minutes and 42 seconds on their rivals to regain the lead going into the run. However, they were unable to hold off their Wrekin counterparts with each of their opponents’ runners chipping away at the deficit to take the gold.

There were some excellent displays by the junior girls team as they repeated their silver success of the previous year with second in their U20 section. Their team of Laura Vickers, Helena Forster, Abigail Thomson and Hannah Pinkney put in brilliant performances as they came in 93rd overall.

With some particularly impressive run splits, the ladies vet team finished 32nd team overall, and third in their age group, with Angela Wylie, Charlie Pinkney, Karen Robertson and Fran Little representing the bronze medallists.

One Life sent a further six teams to Nottingham, with the men’s vet 40+ of Keith Charlton, Leman Harris, Mike Little and Peter Murphy 60th, and the vet 50+ of Martin Bluck, Ross Maxwell, Geoff Turnbull and Tim Wylie 80th.

There were four mixed and open teams also competing with Adam and Mark Todhunter, Jonna Aaal and George Schley finishing in 63rd place.

The team of Kim Bluck, Kate Charlton, Alison Nitsch and Steph Scott crossed the line as 74th fastest team.